File r ack



June 13, 1944.

L. H. BURLIN FILE RACK Filed July 24, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 13,1944.

| H. BURLIN FILE RACK Filed July 24 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 13,1.944

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE v r FILE RACK Leslief HfBurlin, Valparaiso,Ind., assignor to Milton L. Sturm. Evanston, 111., doing business as I VMilton Sturm & Company, Chicagm lll.

Y Application July 24,1942, Serial No. 452,219

' 6' Claims. (01. 45-64) This invention relates to file racks in generaland more particularly to such file racks as are used for filing orholding magazines, papers, or letters, for ready access adjacent achair, table, or the like.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a simplerack in which magazines, papers, letters, or the like may be placed andheld in position for ready access, and in which the magazinesare heldneatly in a vertical position regardless of how few or how manymagazines or papers are placed in the rack, within the capacity of therack.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a rack of theabove mentioned character with a movable end plate which will exert acontinuous pressure against the stack of magazines or the like in therack to hold them in position, and in which the movable plate may betilted to allow for an examination of the contents of the rack for theselection of a particular magazine or the like.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a rackof the above mentioned character which is almost entirely made of wood.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide aspring for a rack of the above mentioned character, which spring isnonmetallic and yet reliable in its action.

It is a still further object of thepresent invention to provide a rackof the above mentioned character which is simple and economical ofconstruction, easy to operate, and of neat and aesthetic appearance.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present inventionwill be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings formingapart thereof.

In the drawings: I

Figure 1 is a front view of a rack embodying the present invention; v

Figure 2 is a top view of the rack of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an end view of therack of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 4-4 ofFigure 1;

Figure 5 is a bottom view of the rack of Figure 1; and

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 4.

Reference may now be had more particularlyto the drawings, wherein likereference numerals designate like parts throughout. The rack isindicated in general by the reference numeral I and includes two similarend members 22 of.-

wood; Each of the end members is in the formof an inverted T andconsists of a wide bottomportion 3 and a comparatively narrow uprightportion 4. together at their base by longitudinally extending bars 65.The end members 2-2- are further secured together by boards 8-8 whichform the base of the rack and which are at a slight inclination to oneanother, as may be seen from Figure 4. The ends of the board 88 extendinto slots in the bars 6-6. A stationary longitudinally extendingvertical wall or partition ID extends between the end members andissecured to the end members by wood screws II-I I.

A pair of identical links I2-I3 are pivoted to the outer side of eachend member, as by a pivot screw I4. The link I3 is on the outside of thelink I2. The link l3 includes an arm extending upwardly from the pivotI4 to a pivot I5 and includes an arm I8 extending in the oppositedirection from the pivot I4 to a leaf spring I9 for a purpose and of aconstruction to be more fully set forth as this description proceeds.Likewise the link I2 includes a part I8 similar to the part l8 of thelink I3 against which another spring.

ings, bears against the portion 4 of the two end members. The top of theplate 25 has a longitudinally extending outwardly curved lip'26. The

plate 25 is of a length equal to the spacing be-' tween the outersurfaces of the end members 2--2. On one edge the plate 25 has an outerprojection 28, as may be seen in Figure 1, which extends from thesurface of the plate an amount equal to the thickness of the link I2. Nosuch projection is present on the opposite edge of the plate 25, as isapparent from Figure 1. The two plates 2525 on opposite sides of thepartition I 0 are of identical construction. Since the plates aremounted facing one another the projection 28 on one plate is on one sideof the rack and on the other plate is on the other side of the rack.

This may be seen from Figures 1 and 2 wherein the projection 28 on thefront plate 25 ison the right hand side of the rack, as seen in Figures1 and 2, whereas the projection 28 on the rear plate of Figure 1 is onthe left hand side of the rack,;

The two end members are secured,

as seen in Figure 2. Thus each plate 25 is pivoted between an inner linkl2 on one side of the rack and an outer link l3 on the other side of therack. This construction permits the use of identical plates 25, wherebythe manufacturer is relieved of the necessity of providing differentright hand and left hand plates.

A stationary cross bar 39 is securely mounted on the underside of therack, as by a screw 3| that threads into the base 88 and the partition I0. Two bars of spring wood or wooden strips i9|9 are mounted on the topof the bar 30 and extend the full length of the rack on opposite sidesof the longitudinal center thereof, and

project through openings Site-"33in the opposite These spring bars bearl8,i8' of the links end members 2 2. against the projections |2--l3 andurge the links to the position illus trated in Figure 3-. When the linksare in the position illustrated in Figure 3 the plates 25 25 bearagainst the end members 2 -2 leaving a narrow opening between each plateand the partition l forreceiving one or several magazines' their pivotsl4l4 and force the ends of the spring members [9-19 downwardly. Thespring members l9-l9 thus exert a spring pressure against the part l8 ofthe link I'Z, as seen in Figure 3, and against the corresponding part 18of the 7 link I 3 on the opposite side ofthe rack to urge'the link tomaintain the plate 25 infirm engagement against the stack of papers ormagazines between the plate 25 and the partition 10, thus maintainingthe magazines or papers in the rack firmly in a vertical position. If itis desired to separate some of the papers in the rack' in order toselect a desired magazine or paper, the

plate 25 may be manually tilted about its pivot I5, as illustrated at 4|in Figure 4-, to permit such separation. At all times the springs I9-l9This causes the links l2-|-3' that support the plate involved to swingabout cause the links to maintain a continuous pres- 1 sure urging, theplates towards the partition I0.

It is to be noted that when the plate 25 is in its outwardly extendedposition, ,as illustrated in dotted lines at 40 in Figure 4, the linksI2l3 that supportthe plate extend from the pivot l5 towards theendmember 2 at a very small inclination, asindicated at43. 1 This is dueto the curvature of the links. As a result the portion of the linkat 43serves as a closure for theopen end of the magazine space between theextended plate 25 and the ,end member 2.

In the normal use of the rack each plate 25 is vertical and maintainspressure distributed over a large area of the last book, paper, ormagazine in the rack. The-plate may, however, be manually tilted, asillustrated in dotted linesat 4| in Figure 4, to permit the tops of thepapers to be ianned apart, to'facilitate selection of the desiredpaper.While the papers are fanned out at the top they are pressed together bythe bottomof the plate 25,thus holding-the papers in place.-

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes I have hereshown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention. It is,howevento be understood that the invention is not limited to the preciseconstruction here shown, the same being merely illustrative of theprinciples of the invention. What I consider new and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. A rack comprising a base, a vertical partition secured to andextending across the base, supporting links, means adjacent the base forpivotally supporting the links, members on opposite sides of thepartition pivotally mounted on the links for movement towards and awayfrom the partition, a pair of parallel wooden spring strips mounted onthe underside of the base but spaced from the underside of the base andextending lengthwise of the base for substantially the full length ofthe base, at least one end of each strip-"being free and movable awayfrom thebase, said; links being engaged by the free ends of the springstrips for pressing the members towards the partition.

2. A rack for magazines or the 1ike,'comprising a base, a centrallongitudinal vertical partitionextending above the base,'meansconnecting the partition with the base, similar longitudinally extendingplates on opposite sides of the parti- 3-. A rack for magazines or thelike, comprising a base, a central longitudinal vertical partitionextending above the base, means connecting the partition with the base,similar longitudinally extending plates on opposite sides of thepartition, linkages supporting the respective plates, each linkageincluding links pivoted at the opposite ends of-the rack and swingabletowards and away from the partition, the plates being pivoted totherespective'linkages, a pair of wood spring-strips securedintermediate their ends to the rack below the base and extendinglongitudinally of the rack to the opposite ends of the rackand eachbearing against links-at the two ends of the frame and biasing the linksto press the platestowards the partition.

4; A rack for magazines or the like, comprising a base, a stationarylongitudinal vertical wall extending above the base, means connectingthe wall with the base, a pair of links pivoted to the rack at oppositeends thereof about axes in alignment with one another, a plate pivotedto the termediate its ends to the rack and extending longitudinally ofthe rack to the ends of the rack and pressing the links in a directionurging the plate towards the vertical wall.

5. A rack for magazines or the like, comprising a base, a stationaryvertical dividing wall extending above the base, said base includingnarrow end-members at opposite ends of the dividing wall and at rightangles thereto, means connectingthe dividing wall and the end memberswith the rest of the rack, supporting links, means adjacent the base forpivotally supporting the links, a pair of end plates above the base onopposite sides of the vertical dividing wall and pivotally mounted onthe links for movement'towards and away from the vertical dividing wall,said end members being in the path of movement of the platesconstituting stops for limiting the movement of the plates towards thevertical dividing wall, and spring means for constantly urging theplates toward the vertical dividing wall.

6. A rack for magazines or the like compris ing a base, a longitudinalvertical wall extending above the base, means connecting the base andthe wall into a rigid structure, a pair of links pivoted on oppositeends of the rack, a plate member between the links and pivotally mountedthereon and moved by the links towards and away from the vertical Wall,a part of each link extending across the space between the plate and thevertical wall intermediate the top and the bottom of the plate, andspring means acting on said links to urge the plate towards the verticalwall.

LESLIE H. BURLIN.

